Mstislav Rostropovich

One of the greatest experiences as a lifelong critic has been observing the way in which the image of Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich has arisen from many individual traits and grown in complexity into an ever greater unity.

No one who has met him can escape the commanding charm of Rostropovich’s personality. But beyond all his warmth and spirited vivacity, he radiates something that transcends all individuality, an ethos that once united European artists, poets and thinkers in the 19th century. I would say that the spirit of Schiller and Beethoven’s ‘All men are brothers’ has found its modern embodiment in Mstislav Rostropovich.